The subject matter disclosed herein relates to medical imaging and, in particular, to the use of a device to support and tilt a patient's head during imaging.
Non-invasive imaging technologies allow images of the internal structures or features of a patient to be obtained without performing an invasive procedure on the patient. In particular, such non-invasive imaging technologies rely on various physical principles, such as the differential transmission of X-rays through the target volume or the reflection of acoustic waves, to acquire data and to construct images or otherwise represent the observed internal features of the patient.
For example, in computed tomography (CT) and other X-ray based imaging technologies, X-ray radiation spans a subject of interest, such as a human patient, and a portion of the radiation impacts a detector where the image data is collected. In digital X-ray systems a photodetector produces signals representative of the amount or intensity of radiation impacting discrete pixel regions of a detector surface. The signals may then be processed to generate an image that may be displayed for review. In the images produced by such systems, it may be possible to identify and examine the internal structures and organs within a patient's body. In CT systems a detector array, including a series of detector elements, produces similar signals through various positions as a gantry is displaced around a patient, allowing volumetric reconstructions to be obtained.
Traditionally, CT scanners have had gantries that tilt with respect to the patient, allowing the scanner to image a patient's head (including the brain) and to avoid directing X-ray radiation toward the patient's eyes by way of the tilt. However, newer CT scanners rotate at higher speeds (e.g., more than two rotations per second) and have larger imaging detectors in order to better image the patient's heart. To accommodate these higher rotational speeds and the area-type detectors (as opposed to the multi-row detectors used in preceding generations), newer scanners may no longer have the ability to tilt the gantry. That is, the mechanical stresses and/or structural requirements to support higher rotational speeds and/or whole organ imaging may inconsistent with geometries that allow tilting the gantry.